FRONTLINES NORTH OF KHERSON, Ukraine—Russia announced on Friday it was finished calling up reservists to fight in Ukraine, having drafted 300,000 people in a month, with more than a quarter of them already sent to the battlefield.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was shown on state television informing President Vladimir Putin that 82,000 reservists were now deployed in the conflict zone and another 218,000 had entered training.
“The task set by you of (mobilizing) 300,000 people has been completed. No further measures are planned,” Shoigu said.
Putin had ordered the “partial mobilisation” last month after his forces suffered setbacks on the battlefield.
Authorities have acknowledged some mistakes in drafting in some people who were too old or unfit, but said they would be resolved.
Putin ordered the call-up in September at the same time as he endorsed plans to annex Ukrainian lands.
Western military analysts have said the call-up could help ease Moscow’s shortages of manpower along the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line, but the military value of the draft will depend on whether Moscow can properly equip and train the reservists.
One of the war’s most consequential battles is now looming in the south, with Ukrainian forces having advanced this month towards Kherson.
The city sits at the mouth of the wide Dnipro River that bisects Ukraine, and the surrounding region controls land approaches and water supply to Crimea.
The Ukrainian advance appears to have slowed in recent days, however, with Kyiv blaming poor weather and tough terrain.
The enemy troops dug into muddy trench lines north of the city exchanged rocket, mortar, and artillery fire.
Ukrainian soldiers manning a 120 mm mortar hidden in bushes loosed high explosive rounds in thundering bursts of flame at Russian positions around a grain silo less than a kilometer away.
Russia has ordered civilians out of a pocket of land it controls on the west bank of the Dnipro River, which includes Kherson city. Kyiv says the evacuation of the area is cover for a forcible deportation of civilians by Russian forces, which Moscow denies.
Sergey Aksyonov, the leader of neighboring Crimea, under Russian control since 2014, said work had been completed on moving residents seeking to flee Kherson to regions of Russia ahead of Ukraine’s expected counter-offensive.
Ukraine’s general staff said hospital and business equipment was being removed from the area, while extra Russian forces were being deployed in empty homes.
